Novak Djokovic has the belief not to be overwhelmed at the French Open

Serbia's Novak Djokivic won his 37th consecutive match of the year against Rafa Nadal in the final of the Madrid Open. Photograph: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images

Novak Djokovic is unbeaten but, as he acknowledges for the benefit of fools and dreamers, he is "not unbeatable", neither here nor, perhaps, at Wimbledon or Flushing Meadows.

He once was a joker, but he is no clown. A day short of his 24th birthday, a week younger than his friend and rival Andy Murray, he has matured far more quickly than even close associates would have thought possible and he shows in the confidence to be humble a trait that Rafael Nadal exudes. There can be no sustainable argument that they are not equal favourites for this French Open.

Over the next fortnight at Roland Garros we will see if Djokovic can extend his extraordinary run ofconsecutive wins beyond the 39 he has reached, 37 for the year, and overhaul the records of John McEnroe, on 42, and thereafter a slew of great players, with Guillermo Vilas at the summit on 46.

These are mere numbers, however impressive – and there are more than enough of them to satisfy the saddest obsessive. What matters more is the substance of his tennis, and that is frightening in its quality and consistency. Only Nadal and Roger Federer of players currently active have rivalled such a body of work. If there has been a better triumvirate, it does not spring readily to mind.

Asked if he regarded this period as a changing of the guard, Djokovic was not seduced by hubris, although neither was he so hidebound by false modesty that he could deny there was a new rivalry in tennis, one that has seriously reinvigorated the sport since his unstoppable rise over the past six months.

When Federer said on Friday of the pressure on himself, Djokovic and Nadal, "We're all great players and we know how to handle it", he was right – except he could not or would not say that Djokovic was handling it better than any of them.

"This year we have seen some up-and-coming players that were really doing well on the ATP circuit," Djokovic said. "It's good to have them, the new generation: [Milos] Raonic, [Grigor] Dimitrov, these kind of players. We haven't seen really a lot of young players in the last three or four years. Tennis was really missing that.

"It's good for the sport to have another rivalry. It's not just Federer/Nadal, which obviously has been and is probably [still] one of the biggest, if not the biggest, rivalry that we ever had in our sport. But now it's myself and Murray coming up and a couple other players. It's really doing good for our sport."

Simply put, and heartfelt.

How, goes the oft-repeated question, has he done it? Where did this magical form come from? Is it the gluten-free diet about which he refuses to give details? Could it be the fitness regime that would kill a horse? Maybe that old chestnut "focus" has had a part to play, as it puts steel and threat in his ground strokes, and carries him along the baseline as if wing-footed.

All these things, he says, are true. But there is another reason, one he willingly testifies to and which no coaching manual or dietary regime could generate. The tumult that has engulfed Serbia, and the constituent parts of the old Yugoslavia, over the past two decades is one written in blood, and Djokovic witnessed enough of that growing up in Belgrade to leave mental and spiritual scars. The experience was also a leavening influence on a mere tennis player who has become an international celebrity of considerable wealth, living a millionaire's life in Monte Carlo, and who is hailed as the best player in his sport.

Milan Boskovic is a Serbian television journalist whose beat has been much enlivened lately. He was on hand in Rome to witness his compatriot fight off Murray's stout challenge in the semi-final then, for the second weekend in a row, destroy Nadal on clay and add the Rome Masters to his collection of three Masters titles this year – all at the expense of the world No1.

"For many people," Boskovic says, "Novak is the symbol of Serbia. After all that has happened in the past, people in Serbia tend to look for positive things, and tend to look especially to athletes who have been maybe the brightest face Serbia has to offer to the world.

"At the moment he's winning and people are just crazy about him. Our TV ratings are fantastic. My TV station [B92] used to broadcast Champions League football. Even when we had our team [Partizan Belgrade] in the Champions League, his ratings were higher. Almost 50% of people watching TV in Serbia on the Sunday night when he was playing in Indian Wells against Nadal were watching that match, which is unprecedented for tennis."

There are no guarantees with hero worship, though. "We're a strange country," Boskovic adds. "I'd say it's typical for countries in southern Europe, such as Italy, Greece, Spain, Serbia. We tend to be very emotional. If someone is successful, we glorify those people.

"Before, he was No3, No2 sometimes. But we only wanted him to be No1. Now it is all that matters. I'm not sure what's going to happen once he loses. Not sure what the reaction is going to be – especially if that [decline] were to continue."

Djokovic will lose again. He is 125-1 to go unbeaten through the entire year – something McEnroe came within two losses of achieving in 1984. But it is unrealistic to expect anyone to defy such quality opposition indefinitely.

Tennis is enjoying its honeymoon. Djokovic knows better than anyone, certainly better than the fools or the dreamers, what awaits him. "Nobody is unbeatable," he said. "Even though I have had an incredible run that keeps going. I'm not trying to think about when it will end, because that will mean that I'm thinking about losing. It is not my priority, not my mental approach. I think it's the right attitude ... and it's been going well."

He rises, smiles and leaves the room with the air of a man comfortable in the maturity of his genius.